Guide for sewing-machines



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES HUBERT FOSTER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE SINGERMANUFACTURING COMPANY OF NEW JERSEY.

GUIDE FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 501,930, dated July 25,1893. Application filed February l0, 1893. .Serial No. 461,720. (Nomodel.)

Toa/ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHAaLEs HUBERT Fos- TER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at New York, in the county of New York and 5 State ofNew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSewing-Machine Guides, of which the following is a specification,reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings. xo In joiningthe edges of two pieces of fabric, (as in sewing up the sides of ashirt) by a lap seam known as a flat fell secured by two rows ofstitches, it has heretofore been customary to use a presser-foot scrollhemmer of I5 ordinary construction made large enough to take in the twopieces of folded fabric. The scroll hemmer has been employed for thispurposeinstead of an ordinary lap seam guide for the reason that whenthe part of the 2o seam where a gusset was to be inserted was reachedthe lap-seam guide would be in the way, while the work about the gussetcan be properly manipulated with the hemmer. But in the use of thescroll hemmer in making this z 5 lap seam there has been more or lessdifficulty in properly guiding the edges of the two pieces of fabric sothat there would be just the right amount of fullness to make the edgeslap properly, the edges having a tendency to run 3o out laterally sothat sometimes, unless great care was exercised by the operator,imperfe'ct seams would be formed.

My invention has for its object to obviate the difficulty referred to byproviding a guide, g5 of novel construction, by the use of which, inconnection with a presser-foot scroll hemmer, perfect lap seams can bereadily and easily made, even when the sewing machine is run at a highrate of speed, without requiring special to skill or care on the part ofthe operator. To

this end I have constructed a guide comprising a vertical flange or ribthe forward or inner part of which is turned over in the form of ascroll and the outer part of which is i5 preferably provided with ahorizontal lip extending on the same side of said iiange as the saidscroll. The said guide is preferably furnished at its outer end with ashank by which it may be pivotally attached to the work- :o plate of themachine so that it may readily be swung aside out of the way when not inuse, or when the gusset part of the seam is to be formed, a stop on thesaid work-plate limiting its return movement when again swung back intoworking position. 5 In the accompanying drawings Figure l is aperspective view of a portion of a Singer two-needle machine with myinvention applied thereto, and Fig. 2 is a detail front end view of apart thereof. Fig. isa'detail plan 60 view of the guide, and Fig. 4 is adiagram illustrative of the work to be performed by the use of myinvention.

A denotes the head at the forward end of the bracket arm of the sewingmachine. 65 B is the needle-bar carrying two needles b,

b, and C is the presser bar to the lower end of which is attached thescroll hemmer presserfoot c, which is, or may be, of the well knownconstruction heretofore in use, the said 7o presser-foot being, forclearness of illustration, shown slightly lifted from working position.

D is the work-plate of the machine and is secured to an arm or cylinderE in which are 75 the shuttles, the shuttle drivers and the feedingmechanism.

Attached to the work-.plate D is my improved guide consisting of thebase f from which rises the vertical rib or iiange g the 8o forward orinner part of which is turned over in the form of a scroll h whichslopes downward forwardly, the rear or outer part of said flange beingpreferably turned over to form the lip t' which is horizontal, orapproximately 85 so, and which extends on the same side of said flangeas said scroll. The said guide is pivotally attached to the work-plate Dby the screw a passing through the outer end of the shank f whichextends outward from the 9o base f, so that the said guide may bereadily swung around to the left out of the way when not wanted for use,a suitable stop, as the pin CZ on the work-plate, being provided tosecure accurate placing of said guide when swung 95 back into workingposition, and when in such position the vertical flange or rib g will bein a line about midway between the two needles4 of the machine and aboutcentral in front of the scroll hemmer. (See Fig. 2.)

In the use of my invention the two pieces of fabrics y, (Fig. 4) areentered into the scroll hemmer in the usual manner, the piece being soarranged that its edge extends up vertically against the lower side ofthe horizontal gage lip i, while farther forward it is curled overbeneath the scroll h. The piece y is so held that it overlies the saidlip and scroll which thus divide or separate the two pieces of fabric sothat they can easily be adjusted with relation to each other. No specialcare need be taken in adjusting the edge of the piece y excepting todraw it well over to the left, as any extra-fullness of edge thereofwill be properly taken care of by the scroll hemlner of the presser-footc. As the machine is started the operator, by the pressure of a fingeragainst the left side of the flange g, holds the edge of the piece a; upagainst the lip and at the same time easily guides the edge of the piecefg over the said lip and the scroll h so that the goods are thusaccurately directed to the presser-foot scroll hemmer and to the needlesto form lines of stitches denoted by thedotted lines a through thelapped edges of the fabrics. Thus without requiring special skill on thepart of the operator, and with the exercise of no great care, lap-seamsmay, by the use of my invention, be readily formed; while the pivotalattachment of the guide to the work-plate permits it to be readily andquickly swung aside when the gusset part of the seam is reached, and asquickly returned for operation when desired.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent- 1. The combination witha two-needle sew ing machineprovided with a presser-foot scroll hemmer, of a guide, for use inmaking lap seams, said guide comprising a vertical rib or fiange havingits forward or inner part turned overinto a downwardly and forwardlysloping scroll, and the said vertical rib or flange being arranged in aline about midway between the two needles of the machine.

2. A sewing machine guide, for use in making lap seams, comprising avertical flange having at its outer part a horizontal lip and having itsinner or forward part turned over to form a downwardly and forwardlysloping scroll.

3. A sewing machine guide, for use in making lap seams, consisting of abase provided with an outwardly extending shank by which to attach theguide to the work-plate of the machine, and a flange extending upwardfrom said base and provided at its outer part with a horizontal lip andat its inner or forward part with a forwardly and downwardly slopingscroll.

4. The combination with a two-needle sewing machine provided with apresser foot scroll hemmer, of a guide consisting of the base f havingthe shank f by which said guide is pivotally attached to the work-plateof the machine, said base having also the flange or rib g arranged inline about midway between the needles of the machine, and the saidflange or rib being provided at its outer part with the horizontal lipt' and at its inner or forward part with the scroll h.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES HUBERT FOSTER.

Witnesses:

CHAs. ELKIN, WALTER J. PETTIT.

